Is it really over?

I don't like change!
I do get excited about some things that I don't have to do now that school is done. Mostly I'm excited that for a little while I can sleep in. That seriously is the most exciting thing to me. But besides not having to  wake up early to travel and not having to take more tests...(lets hope wreb doesn't dash that hope) I really am going to miss the program and school. I'm thinking if I don't find a job, I just may take up residence in op 1 or 2 when the dentists are gone and practice there!
I most of all will miss getting to spend time with 30 sexy beasts (as Jody puts it so well). I have loved getting to know everyone and work with them and laugh and stress and want to cry and sometimes want to scream and then eat food, lots and lots of food with everyone, and freak out about giving injections into raw chickens and then into real mouths, and lasering hot dogs and working on patients that drive you crazy and then patients you love, and then stressing some more and then laughing more. It has been some of the best two years of my life!
I really am getting more sad about the prospect of being done with every passing day. So if I'm a sobbing wreck at the banquet...thats why. Its cause I love all you guys and hate that we can't all find a job in the same office and spend the rest of our careers together! I suppose if we all moved to california we could really do that!

the second to last day at the VA

Well, everyone thought it was our last day and we had to keep reminding them that we are the lucky group to go 2 weeks in a row at the end....so we would be back!!!
It was a good day. I felt like I had interesting situations that I was able to learn from.  My first patient wasn't able to lay back becuase of osteoporosis so I got to work leaning over or standing. It was alot easier in most places to work standing up. The next patient had good subgingival calculus but since he wasn't started till 10 am I only did 2 quads. The dentist was very friendly and loved my x-rays! They were really good x-rays:)
In the afternoon I had a patient that had had head and neck radiation for throat cancer. It was cool hearing his story. Sadly, his teeth have suffered badly as a result of the radiation. He had caries everywhere. They were slowly putting his mouth back together. He had really good homecare but had a difficult time keeping the up with it all. It was sad, but he was such a nice guy.
All in all a very interesting day!

Oh board results!

Well, I along with most of the class had a heart attack at the results sent to us. Luckily karlie read me the email....I skipped right over it and down to those awfully chosen words...Exam results:FAIL. After hurried phone calls and much confusion I realized that I had indeed passed the clinical portion!!!! Then there was much rejoicing!...and screaming! What a relief to find out. I passed! I passed! We all passed!!!! (I'm including Julie in this!!!)

NCUR

Well, the day that we present our research has finally arrived.  We labored diligently on our project and failed to fulfill our hypothesis. And luckily that is research! We worked on trying to create and image using Augmented Reality. We worked to download the program but were unable to due to our lack of advanced computer skills. I tell ya, I didn't even know what it was asking us for!  Although we weren't able to render an image the research was pretty interesting!
So we presented on Friday morning- Karlie,Jodie and I. It was alot more exciting than I expected it to be. We were able to talk to a few different individuals and explain what we did and the more we talked about it the more excited I got. I really is cool technology.
It was interesting to see all the other posters and other schools attending. There were subjects on all sort  of topics. It was cool.

Shadowing

This week I shadowed another dentist up north. It was a good experience, I actually wish we could see more than just 2 offices.  I was actually able to observe a senior from last year so that was nice because I was able to talk to her about the transition from school to working and what things were a big adjustment. She said the biggest change was viewing the paitent in terms of billing needs and treatment plans and not a class II for a requirement. Also, working up to speed and seeing all the patients in a timely manner. I'm alittle concerned about that! I suppose everyone else has done it in the past and we should be able to follow suit.
I really liked being able to see the differences between offices and what things I really liked and what I didn't love. Hopefully I can find a job that suits me well!

Anesthesia Board

Well....I Passed!!
Today was the anesthesia board. We started the day at school by 7:30 so we could have a clinic tour and orientation. I think someone forgot to give us the clinic tour. So we waited around till the orientation. I thought it was actually pretty helpful. After orientation we had a birthday party and yummy cake for marianne and then snuck up stairs to the waiting room.
Then we waited and watched.
At 10:40 they called me back to set up and said they'd start back up again at 11. Bonus, I was in my old unit! I went and retrieved Karlie and tried to breathe.
When I finally started the procedure I went in with all correct angles in Karlie's perfect triangle and got a positive aspiration. I've never had a positive aspiration! So I withdrew my syringe and got  a new setup. This time I was at site of penetration and realized my window wasn't up so I withdrew again.
The third penetration I finally got it but when at site of deposition said penetration and they had to correct me:)
I don't really remember much after that point. I assume I did the PSA correctly because after cleaning and much fretting I got the courage to pick up my envelope. Inside was my success memo (it didn't look so purple upon initial viewing)!
On to bigger and more stressful things...clinicals tomorrow. UGH!

I found a board patient!!!!

FINALLY! I found a patient. I held screenings this morning and my first pt qualified!! He's super nice. All thanks to Marianne! She's my life saver!  Julie and Ashley are too. I was busy taking x-rays when my other patients came and they were nice enough to see them for me. We seriously have the best class!
I also saw a class III this afternoon! He was a smoker and I feel like I was able to give him some good info about its consequences and what he can do. He said no one had spent so much time explaining and examining before. That made me feel good! I still don't really know how to help them quite besides encouragement though. I only got one quad done but I think I'll be able to finish next time.
So the day itself went really well but I make myself sick thinking about boards. I can't wait for the next week to be done and to be able to enjoy the rest of school. I'm getting sad about graduating...well leaving the class! I will miss everyone! But I will not miss boards!

No-shows and cancelations

So I am desperatly low on my class III's and was so excited because I had scheduled 2 class III's for yesterday. Well at 10pm the night before my morning patient cancelled. Great! I got to the clinic and tried to fill the spot but no one I called could come in. I ended up seeing a patient Adrianne screened. I think that patient was the most sensitive and jumpy girl I've ever worked on! And thats after a PSA, 2 MSA's, 2 infiltrations and 2 rounds of Oraqix! Good grief it was the longest quad cleaning ever!
Well, I anxiously awaited my afternoon patient. She had been a III/IV! Do you think she showed up? Of course not. Why would my luck be that good?! So I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find another patient. I ended up seeing my brother in the last hour. I was so proud of myself! His appointment was 1 hour and 10 mins! He had been my first patient junior year and my first one back in August. I think he noticed a difference! (I hope!)

A Mockboard Miracle

I've had a mockboard scheduled since the middle of January and then I just kept finding others. I felt like I had them coming out of my ears!
I confirmed my patient. He always comes early and is very reliable. But of course things are never as smooth as I hope they are going to be!  As the clock ticked farther and farther from 12:30 I'm got more and more sick to my stomach. He never came!
At 12:50 in walks this older gentle man up to the window to ask how to schedule a cleaning. (can you hear the angles singing!) He was willing to be my patient. I took him back (without x-rays at all) and he has 11 clicks!!!! Hallejua again! It was amazing! I got him done and passed my last mockboard!!!
It was a mockboard miracle!
I have to give a shout-out to Jamie for helping me so much!

Tuesday Clinic

Today wasn't really my most productive day in the sense that I would like it to have been. (Though Marilyn is amazing at helping you pass of PE's!!!)I had my eaglesoft patient come in for her reevaluation. I passed of the velscope and oral irrigation! Also I had her use the spanish videos for her OHI review (we don't communicate super well:)  ) but they were kinda cool to use.  After she left I spent the rest of the morning (my other patient no-showed) trying to figure out eaglesoflt.  By the time we went to lunch I had typed 3 appointments worth of notes. (THIS IS WHERE OTHERS WILL WANT TO PAY ATTN) I hit save as because that is the natural choice out of the options you have to save the notes. DON"T DO THIS! I lost all of my notes! It was awful! I learned after that that you just hit OK.
I left for lunch thoroughly annoyed with the system. 
My afternoon comprised of 2 quads of a II (woot). I finished him and then went back to work on eaglesoft, input, I hope, all the information needed and retyped the 3 appointment notes again (bah!)
It was a very tiring day taking into consideration that I didn't due much!
Oh yeah...Happy Valentines Day to me! :)

Local Anesthesia Mockboard

Well, I'm currently sitting waiting for my turn to give injections. It will be nice to be done with it. I think its been a good learning experience for alot of us and I think it will be for me too...if I can just remember all of it!  We'll see what silly things happen to me.
So this afternoon I have a patient coming in. I hope he's a good classification! Stefanie was nice enough to let me see him and for that I am very grateful!! I was having difficulty finding a pt. I did call one yesterday, she returned my call at 1:30 this morning! Luckly I didn't get it till I woke up (after nightmares about mockboards). Then on the way to school I got 10 phone calls from her! I think she was pocket dialing because when I answered the first few times there was no answer. I now have a very long blank message as well! Oh the joys of using my cell phone!
I will sign off because I should probably go get my patient!
Wish me luck!

Give kids a smile

A haiku to commemorate the childrens health connection.

x-rays on children
health connection smiles and screams
It was such a joy!

by Maren Bishop and Leigh Perry.

Though this may sound like we had lots of time on our hands that was not the case!
The day went by pretty fast. I spent most of it in the x-ray rooms. The kids were so good! I was able to get pics on all the kids I saw. I think we all were. We stayed quite busy which was good. I think in total we saw almost 60 kids! After x-rays I went to the hygiene area and helped the juniors finish there cleanings. Michelle did 13 sealants on one child. It was a busy, crazy, and good day!

Mockboards...are over!!!

I've always scheduled myself in the afternoon for mockboards. I'm always happy about this till the afternoon comes!
The morning went well. When I examined the patient before the appointment I felt almost everything the instructor had which is a big improvement from last time! I was happy about that. We took the mock anesthisia test which I felt was helpful as well in directing my focus on studies. I think we were all grateful for it.
I was happy that this time my patient showed up on time. This was especially appreciated since I had to take PA's on her. I must say those were some of the toughest PA's I've taken. She ended up holding the snap-a-ray. To get an anterior film I had to almost take it like an occlusal film, but it worked out..thank heavens!! I feel though that I learned alot from just taking the difficult PA's.
I got her in at 1 exactly and then waited.
The cleaning itself was a good learning experience just like the PA's. She had tough calculus and her jaw got tired really fast so I had to stop often to give her a rest and strategize when to have her open and when to not. She had the craziest CEJs and I was sure I would miss so many areas because I couldn't tell if it was calculus or tooth. As I was ultrasonicing my tip would get caught on the CEJ and actually started shaking because it couldn't move. It was crazy. I eventually got her finished with not much time to spare and finished up. It was a huge relief to finish up and be done with mockboard #2!!!!
 Also, just a shout-out to the amazing girls in my clinic. They were all so helpful and cleaned up for me while i walked her out. We have such an AMAZING class!!!!

Tuesday Clinic

So, I had Heather's brother call my patient thinking he was spanish speaking. Come to find out he's not (haha) but her bro was amazing at getting the patient in. I got a call at 7:15 telling me my patient would be there at 8! So he came in and was the nicest guy, so willing to help and even qualified for mockboards! I was pretty excited about that, especially since we're all running low on mockboard patients! So I had a good morning. My afternoon patient was really nice. We couldn't communicate very well but she was nice. I got x-rays and 4 quads of a II so not too bad of an appointment. She had a 3 yr old with her that did not want to sit quietly and wait for her mother. I tried to keep her with coloring pages from mr. soloman...those didn't last for very long. She finally ended up taking a nap on her mom's leg at the end of the chair. It was actually really cute. She slept till the very end!
It turned out to be a pretty good day.

Oh the VA!

Today was a busy day. It started out with me being late and missing the exit to meet Karlie. I hate it when exits have 2 names! After doubling back we made the treck to SLC.
I saw two pt's in the morning. The first one was a really nice man with sleep apnea. He must have been exhausted because he promptly feel asleep in my chair and snored for the rest of the appointment:) He was a class V and I finished him just in time to see the next pt. My new pt had an upper denture a lower anterior bridge with implants and then natural teeth. The appointment should've taken a half hour but I feel like I am so slow! Well, the x-rays were giving me complications but besides that I don't know what my problem was. I need to work on my speed! I did get to talk about dental aids and learn more about the Perio-aid which I feel is a weird tool and I never remember to recommend.
My afternoon patient was the nicest guy all day. He was pretty familiar with the students and every time Prof Bossenberger would walk in he'd say, "Well Stephanie, how's...." it was pretty funny. Per his request we started him on nitrous but he was still really sensitive so I was able to use Oraqix as well and pass of both of those PE's!! I love oraqix though. its amazing! Besides being such a nice guy he was so interested in how he was doing with his home care and what areas he needed to work on and what tools would be better used. It was awesome! Its so nice to have patients that are so concerned! All in all a good day!
Oh, I probably shouldn't post the funniest part of the day but if you're looking for a good story ask Karlie Nichols about taking blood pressure. Its a good one! and even better to have been there in person!